Run Away
by sngsngsnyrslp
Summary: Madge needs to get away and who else to go with her other than her best friend Gale? Their friendship will transform as they grow closer. Fluff attack. AU
1. Chapter 1

_I love the idea of Gale and Madge going on a road trip. This is just going to be a quick probably three-shot. I hope you enjoy it!_

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I think it's about two in the morning when I see her headlights coming toward me in the distance. She has the best car, this sweet mustang, cherry red, and fucking gorgeous. If that car were a woman I'd make love to it. Come to think of it, if that car were a woman it'd probably be Madge.

I'm standing in the road mind you, so her headlights are actually coming toward me and if she doesn't see me I am going to die. (She won't hit me. This is kind of our thing,) Most people would mind the headlights burning their retinas, but I don't. I just close my eyes and bask in the light, awaiting my possible sudden death.

I hear her car skid to a stop, the tires burning rubber. I wince at the sound, hoping there hasn't been much damage done to her tires because I'm going to be the one who has to repair them if they're shot to hell. "Goddamnit Hawthorne! You have really lost control of your own body, haven't you?" I smile at her, shaking my head no. "Well then why would you go standing in the middle of the street? Do you have a death wish or something?"

"I was hoping I'd have a date with this little lady," I pat the hood of her car. She's had it washed and waxed recently. "And you're driving down my road, you should always keep an eye out for me."

"Were you planning on kissing my windshield or something?"

"Kiss and tell, you know I never tell Madge."

She raises her eyebrows at me, knowing my track record down at the slagheap. Hey, I said I don't tell. I can't be held accountable for all those girls who do.

"I've got some things to say and I know you can relate." This girl has got pockets full of secrets like you couldn't believe and slowly and surely as I gain her trust she lets some of them out one at a time.

"Shoot." For a mayor's daughter and a miner's son we sure did have a lot in common. We had the same dreams and the same thoughts for the most part and all of them had to do with getting the hell out of this town.

"Run away with me." As soon as the words roll out of her mouth I yearn to hear them again and again.

So I play stupid I ask, "What?" just to hear it again.

"Run away with me tonight."

The sentiment is nice. Hell, it's great, but it's impractical. I approach her, placing my hands on her bare shoulders, only the spaghetti straps of her graduation dress covering a small part of them. "It's late, Madge, maybe you should get some sleep. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

"No, you don't get it. We can stay up as late as we want. We can actually smoke too without having our parents down our backs about our awful habits. Just feel the breeze beneath our feet."

She's dead serious, her eyes wide and she's putting all her goddamn trust in me, trusting that I don't reject her obvious need to get the hell away from here. It's not just that temporary, fleeing need for independence that comes after graduation. (Even if it was it usually wouldn't come as quick as a few hours after.)

She knows what I'm about to say. She knows I can't actually leave that I have to work to chip in for my family.

Sensing this, she escapes my hands and heads back to her car, reaching in and grabbing her purse. From it she pulls out a blank envelope. She hands it to me.

My eyebrows furrow and I look into it. It's filled with cash, more cash than I could make this entire summer. "What is this?"

"Take it. For them. I need you for a bit, a week, week and a half tops."

"What do you need me for?"

"I need you to run away with me tonight."

I open my mouth to protest, but she stops me. "I'm not giving up on you."

"Will you hate me if I say no?"

She shakes her head vigorously. "We're okay. We're okay either way."

I chuckle under my breath, thinking of how extremely odd this entire situation is, running away with the mayor's daughter. "And you say I've lost control."

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_Thanks for reading! Is there anything you want to see in this story? I'm always up for suggestions! :D_

_Review please!_


	2. Chapter 2

_This may well end up being a four-shot. Kissing next chapter!_

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Chapter Two

"Are you even going to tell me what happened with your dad?" He asks sipping on his can of coke.

"Why do you assume it had to do with my dad?"

"I don't know because you always come to me when something upsetting happens with your dad. Am I right? It has to do with him?"

If it wasn't so dark I'm sure he'd be able to see the smirk on my face, but I'm saved by the night. He knows me too well.

"Okay, we'll talk about that later and yes we will talk about that later Margaret. I'm not one of your boy toys, we actually talk." He pauses and I don't even have to look over to know there's a scowl on his face. He hates every new guy in my life. I'll agree they're definitely shit heads but they're my business not his. I don't say shit about the bimbos that walk in and out of his life.

"So where do we need to go so quickly that I couldn't even tell my mom that I was leaving?"

I laugh because he actually thinks that he could go anywhere without Hazelle knowing. That woman has eyes and ears all over. Once we were sitting in his room and Gale whispered, fucking whispered as low as possible, so low that it was hard for me to hear that he failed an exam and I swear she was in the room before he could finish the sentence. I knew that she would know so I told her. I just hadn't gotten around to telling him that I had actually told her.

"I have a crazy idea," I say.

He raises his eyebrows. "Another? Now this I got to hear."

"Let's put my iPod on shuffle and wherever the next artist is from then that's where we head. Sound good?"

He's laughing now, the kind of laughing that makes your stomach hurt and tears collect at the corners of your eyes and I get caught up in it. I'm laughing just as hard and it's starting to get hard to drive so I pull over onto the shoulder.

"You are fucking crazy, but fine. Fuck it."

I grab my iPod, connecting it to the car's radio. We'd been listening to the same ten songs on the radio for the last hour.

"Ready?" I ask, turning to take in his facial features in the moonlight.

"Ready?" He affirms and I see his eyes flicker down to my hand, lingering, before they return to my face. I thread my hands through his if he's so scared. It's not like it means anything.

He stops me before I start. "Wait. What if they're from another country?"

"Then we're obviously skipping it. Are you ready?"

He nods and I do it.

The riff to Glee's version of 'Don't Stop Believing Comes on' and I burst out laughing.

Gale laughs. "One, this is wrong. Two, this does not count."

"Okay, okay." I skip forward.

And then we hear that fucking stomping, hand-clapping start that automatically says Peeta Mellark to both of us.

Gale looks at me like I've betrayed him, dropping our linked hands. "You_ like_ this song? Who are you? Are you Peeta Mellark?" He pokes me in the stomach. "Are there pastries in there?"

I shove his hand away. "Shut up! It's catchy! You like it too! I've heard you humming it!"

"That's because it's all Rory will listen to!"

I laugh, seeing right through his lies.

I grab my phone googling the band, "Las Vegas it is."

"I guess." His hands are folded across his chest. I take the car out of park, but before doing that I push him.

When the second chorus starts I glance over at him. He glances back, a smirk on his face, but he won't fall prey to the catchiness of the song. Except he will. I will lure him. I've gotten him to like plenty of songs that he previously hated.

I open my mouth to belt out the next lyrics.

"Don't."

I smile wide, opening my mouth again.

"Don't, Madge."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do. Don't."

"It's time to begin, isn't it? I get a little bit bigger but then I'll admit I'm just the same as I was! Now don't you understand! That I'm never changing who I am!" I am obnoxiously loud, as obnoxious and loud as I can get. It has to be this way so the next chorus he'll sing along. It's like this every time. The more animated, the quicker it is for him to sing along and the more enthused he'll be while he sings.

I like when we sing along to songs. It's pretty often when we both happen to like the song, but when it's something on the radio (which means he naturally hates it) it's a little harder to get him to sing, but eventually he will. He always does. It took him especially long to sing Cobra Starship. On those days I had to make Peeta sit in front.

It's always necessary to have a co-pilot who will sing along with you.

Peeta was the only one who would sing Gabe's part so I could sing Leighton Meester's part. I wouldn't push that on Gale ever though. I know his limits, unlike him; Peeta has none when it comes to singing.

He is going to hate the mixes I made for this trip.

I push him again as I belt out the lyrics. It takes a little bit to get him started. I push him again, but this time I give him a look to say it's his cue to start.

Just as predicted, by the next chorus he's singing along like a champ, like he hadn't just complained about singing it in the first place.

He pushes me, smiling the entire time while he sings. It's easy to see why girls are always all over him. I can't even blame them.

"I hate you," he starts as the song ends. "You will never tell anyone about this."

"Who would I tell?" I say innocently, lighting a cigarette. I'm finally free to do as I please now that we're away from our parents.

"You got me to sing Ke$ha once! Once! And the day after I had Peeta and Thom ragging on me all day. Katniss couldn't even look me in the eye without laughing!"

"It's not my fault. Peeta may or may not have called me and I answered without you knowing."

"Why do I put myself in these situations? It's like I never learn just how evil you are."

I cackle loudly. I can admit that was sort of out of line, but it was priceless. It needed to be recorded for future generations.

"You're lucky they didn't hear your rendition of 'Last Friday Night,' the you'd be fucked."

"I think you mean then I wouldn't get fucked."

I laugh along with him even though the thought makes my throat tighten and stomach drop. It's really stupid I know, but I've always sort of nursed this small, microscopic crush on Gale and now that we've grown a lot closer it's gotten worse, a lot worse. Bad to the point that I hate, like hate with everything inside of me, any girl that he likes, even that he just comments are attractive. It's dumb, and I've gotten a lot better with the hating thing, I just haven't made any progress on the crush itself. I date a lot. It helps. Sort of.

He sees the change and stops, watching me as I take a long drag of my cigarette. Thankfully, he misinterprets my sudden silence as being upset about my father.

"Will you tell me why we're on this road trip now?" The words are spoken gently, it's as if he thinks I'll break if he says them with any force. He's worried for me. He's always worried for me, especially when it comes to my relationship with my father. Since my mother died, he's all I have and all Gale wants for me is to have a good relationship with him. I think it has to do with the fact that he doesn't have his father anymore.

"He says if I'm not pre-med he won't pay for my college. He wants me to go right from Vanderbilt to John Hopkins."

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to study music, you know that. I want to be a music teacher or maybe double major in psychology. I could do art therapy. I don't know what I want to do exactly, but I should have the choice. He can't manipulate me to do whatever he wants. This is for my career, what I'll be doing for the rest of my life." I flick the ashes off the cigarette off the edge of the window before taking another long drag.

I feel Gale's hand come out to grab the cigarette out of my hand and he brings it to his mouth, taking a drag. I'm so busy watching him inhale that I don't notice his other hand land on my thigh. He pats down on it. "I'm sure everything will be fine, Maggie. Don't worry about it. You're an adult now. He can't control you anymore, not that he ever really did." His hand that was previously on my thigh comes up to tuck my hair behind my ear. I stifle a shiver from the touch. He grins wolfishly, the cigarette dangling from his mouth. He lightly fingers the piercings. My father threw a fit when he saw it and back then it had only been one on my right cartilage, now there are a few more that accompany it.

"You've always done whatever you wanted."

"You're one to talk."

The corner of his lip tugs upward. "Just keep driving, Undersee."

A few drops of water fall onto the windshield and at the sight of them I roll my window up.

"You better hurry and finish that up. I won't have my car getting soaked on account of your weak lungs."

He takes a final drag, before flicking it out the window. "Weak longs, eh?"

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_Thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

_I think this will be the last installment._

_I had a lot of fun writing this and I hope you enjoy it!_

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Chapter Three

"Pull over, Gale."

"I'm fine," I counter, even though the windshield wipers are on full blast and I'm hunched forward, eyes squinted. Seeing through a rainstorm is a lot harder than you'd think. "We'll stop at the next stop, get a motel."

"You're ridiculous."

"Says the girl who forced me to take an impromptu road trip."

"I thought you'd enjoy yourself. I was giving you something to remember me by."

I scoff. Like I needed something to remember her by. I close my eyes and I see every detail of her; her golden hair sprawled out around her head like a crown while we lay out in the meadow, watching the clouds or stars, whichever, her blue eyes looking over at me, shining like they always do. That's enough for me. I'd say she haunts every single thought I have, but she doesn't haunt me at all. I welcome any thought of her my brain sends my way.

"Check what that says!" I scream, pointing wildly to one of the signs off the side of the road.

"I think it said Exit 43B."

"You think or you know?"

"Gale, if you can hardly see through the pouring rain what makes you think I can?"

I don't answer her. I just squint through the pouring rain, hoping that she was right about the exit.

"Shut up, put something good on." She's got another Peeta Mellark friendly tune. "Nothing that might remind me of Mellark."

She laughs, looking through her book of CDs.

She puts on Arcade Fire and I am momentarily satisfied. Getting out of the fucking rain and into a hotel would make me extremely happy.

"There!" She screams, slamming her hands on the dashboard. "That exit, right now, Gale!"

I pull quickly toward the exit, thankful there are barely any other cars on the road or we might've been in trouble. I slow down when we're on the main road, both of us on watch for the cheapest and closest motel to the interstate. When we pull up to the motel 6 I see that most everyone else on the road had the same idea. There is absolutely no fucking parking close to the entrance. We're forced to park all the way in the back so when we get the entrance our clothes are soaked through and then naturally since it's summer the air conditioning is blasting. We're both shivering by the time the guy comes to the front desk.

"What can I help you with?" He asks eyeing Madge.

"We need a room," I answer.

Even though I'm the one who answers his eyes stay on her. When I look over I know exactly what he's looking at. Not only is this beautiful girl standing wet, clothes sticking to her body, but also her shirt is white. This day of all days Madge is wearing a white v-neck. Her lilac bra is clearly visible. I can even make out the pattern of the lace. Actually, I can see everything. To make matters worse, let me remind you that the air conditioning is blasting if you catch my drift. She looks gorgeous and if we weren't standing in a motel lobby I don't think I'd be able to control myself.

I snarl at the man. He must be in his forties. He has no business looking at my Madge. I wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her toward me. I force her into my side. "Turn into me," I murmur the words into her hair. It must look like I'm kissing her hair to him. She follows my direction, tucking her small body into my side and wrapping her arms around my middle.

I fight a hard-on now that her body is pressing into mine. I can feel her breasts against my stomach, the roundness of them. Goddamnit.

I force myself to think of everything but the way they feel.

I practically rip the keys from the guy's hands. It isn't until we're out of his sight that Madge pulls away from me, and I curse myself for yearning for her touch, yearning for her to be pressed into my side.

She's my best friend, only my best friend.

I cough and command myself to look away from her. "You should cross your arms over your chest." This is awkward. It's incredibly uncomfortable telling your friend to cover her amazing breasts.

Madge looks down and I can see her cheeks redden. "Oh Christ," she groans.

When we enter the motel room I look around the bathroom hoping there'll be a complimentary bathrobe or something so she can cover herself while our clothes lay out and dry. There is no sense in running back into that rain, just to get our bags soaked as well.

"Well there's no bathrobes. Guess I shouldn't have expected much out of this place," I say walking out of the bathroom.

The last thing I expect is to see Madge standing by the window in her underwear. Her wet hair is sticking to her skin. The sight makes my breath catch in my throat.

"What are you doing?" She asks, while I stand there, my mouth wide open.

"What are _you_ doing?" I ask, the surprise evident in my voice.

She throws her head back to laugh, exposing the smooth pale skin of her neck. The image of my hands all over her body while my mouth discovers every single favored spot on her throat.

"It's the same as seeing me in a bathing suit."

I nod. Her logic is pretty sound. If she's not going to sit around in her wet clothes then I won't either. My fingers find the hem of my shirt and I bring it over my head. My pants find their way to the floor as well, though I struggle a lot more with the wet denim. I hear Madge giggling from her spot on the bed. She's moved underneath the covers so the blankets muffle her laughter.

"Shut up, Undersee, not all of us can get away with short shorts."

"I don't know Hawthorne, I think you'd look great in a pair of daisy dukes."

I chuckle at her sad attempt at a joke and crawl under the covers as well.

The bed's a queen so if we really tried it would be really easy to not touch each other, but neither of us seem like we're trying, both of us lying toward the center of the bed. Our legs are tangled.

"Will you tell me about your dad now?"

She sighed, turning over to examine me better, her legs intertwining more so now. "It's nothing really."

"It is something, I know it is." I rubbed her arm. "You can tell me anything."

"He just really upset me the other day. It was my graduation day, which he hardly made it to by the way, and he was just there to tell me everything he expected me to do and to be. I'm going to his alma mater already and he still wants to control everything else, which dorm I live in, what classes I choose. I don't know what I want to do yet, but I don't want to follow in his footsteps. I do not want to double major in economics and political science. I want to make my own way in the world." Madge whispered the words. Her words brought me closer to her, our faces only inches away now, our bodies curved into each other.

"You're going to pave your own path, Madge. You have to know that."

She looked up, her lip between her teeth. "I don't like disappointing him."

"No one likes to disappoint their parents, but you'll be a lot worse off if you disappoint yourself."

She nuzzled herself into my side, hugging my body to hers, her head fitting perfectly under my chin. "Thank you, Gale. I can always count on you to give me the best advice."

It wasn't the same hugging your friend when you were clothed then when you were only clothed in your underwear, not to mention when you are in love with said friend.

I found breathing incredibly difficult with the strong scent of her hair in my nostrils and her smooth skin against mine. It didn't feel forced or awkward to be this close to her. It felt right, like I had always known it would feel.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'll always be fine with you by my side." She moved her head so she could look into my eyes and her lips grazed my chin in the process.

I held my breath.

"Do you ever think of what it would be like if we were more than what we are?"

I felt her palm on my side.

"What do you mean?" I asked, surprised by my ragged voice.

"I mean what if we were like Peeta and Katniss?"

"I don't ever want to be like Peeta and Katniss," I admitted, a smile tugging on my lips.

She laughed and I reveled in the sound. Her laughter vibrated through my chest. "I meant together, but we wouldn't have to be like them, we could be like ourselves."

I smiled at her, but it was in her hair so I don't think she would be able to feel it.

I was right because soon enough she looked up at me again, nervousness was written all over her face.

I didn't want to talk anymore. I didn't want to profess my love for her because frankly I thought it was obvious and unnecessary. She was my friend. She was beautiful. She was loyal. She was honest with me. She was everything I would ask of a significant other. So I didn't talk, I laid my hand on the slope of her neck and leant in. The kiss was sweet and slow. There was no rush. We had the rest of the summer ahead of us. Our lips swept over each other's and I felt her palm squeeze my side. I didn't want to go very fast because everything was heightened when you're half naked. I couldn't tell if it was just because it was Madge or because she was in her underwear (or maybe both) but this closed mouth kiss was incredibly arousing to me.

When she pulled away the first thing I asked was, "Are you cool with this?"

"What? Kissing this incredible guy that I've always liked?"

I smiled at first but then furrowed my eyebrows. "You've liked me for a long time? I-I mean you've always liked me?"

She nodded, burying her face into my bare chest. I wasn't going to let her get away that easy; I tipped her chin up. "How long?"

"Sophomore year."

Sophomore year? "Sophomore year?" I asked shocked. "Are you kidding me? Why didn't you say anything?"

She blushed, looking away from me. "I don't know. You made me nervous."

"Nervous? I made big bad Madge Undersee nervous."

"You can be quite intimidating," she murmured into my skin.

"Is it too soon to say I'm in love with you?"

Madge's body tensed against mine for a second before she looked up, her eyes meeting mine. "No, because then it'd be too soon for me to say I'm in love with you too."

I rolled her over so I was hovering over her. I ran my hand down her face, while my other settled on the curve of her waist. "You're so beautiful," I whispered, brushing my lips against hers.

"Do you regret this road trip now?"

I smiled down at her to witness her shit-eating grin. "I still think you're fucking crazy."

She leaned upward, planting a peck on my cheek. "Fair enough."


End file.
